Bear Physiology and
Human Medicine

A sedentary lifestyle has been shown to hasten the aging process and raise the risk of developing several serious health problems, such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, kidney failure, loss of skeletal muscle, and osteoporosis. On the other hand, brown bears have developed a unique ability to maintain their metabolic health, even during prolonged periods of inactivity during hibernation, when they avoid the health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle such as blood clots, heart attacks, diabetes, kidney failure, and loss of muscle and bone. These animals, being physiologically closer to humans compared to the commonly used experimental animals in medical research, rodents, could serve as a better model for the development of treatments for lifestyle-related diseases in humans. Our research, which is a multidisciplinary effort, on the hibernation survival strategies of brown bears, aims to learn from these animals and develop treatment strategies and drug targets that could benefit humans.